Nottingham Forest goalkeeper Matz Sels this week had a long interview with the French media about his switch to the City Ground.
It was on deadline day that the Reds confirmed his arrival from Strasbourg, following an €8m agreement with the Ligue 1 side.
Speaking to L’Equipe, Sels talked about his decision to switch the French club for Nottingham Forest, and what he had been looking for at the time of the move.
“I had this opportunity to discover the Premier League and people who know me know that I have always been ambitious. And then I had the feeling of having given my best and leaving Racing in a good situation. The club was tenth at the time of my departure and, just before the break, we had three victories in a row. In five and a half years, I don’t think this has ever happened to us,” Sels told L’Equipe.
Speaking about his adaptation to English football and to Nottingham Forest’s game, the goalkeeper explained the differences between Ligue 1 and the Premier League, and said he slowly gained more confidence when featuring for the Tricky Trees, where he feels fine now.
“Everything goes faster here, all the matches are intense. All teams are strong and have quality attackers. Players like Ollie Watkins or Dominic Solanke for example may not be very well known in France, but they are top level English internationals. You have to stay hyper-focused in front of them.
“It wasn’t easy to arrive at a new club in the middle of the season, I had never experienced that. I found myself, three days after my arrival here, having to play, even though I didn’t know all the first names of the players around me. In a first match, if you don’t perform well straight away, there can quickly be doubts about you, but fortunately, that day, everything went well. And then I tried to gain confidence match after match. When I signed, the objective was to maintain ourselves and today, we are in a good position to achieve it.”
Nottingham Forest will now face Chelsea and Burnley in their final Premier League matches of the season. Due to the recent penalties, they stand in 17th with 29 points, and need at least four points to guarantee a place out of the relegation zone. Anything less than that will require a little slip from Luton Town, who are still trying to save themselves.
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